Disease?

[DAC8671]

I've heard in the past that turts and torts carry salmonella. How true is this? Where can I find info on this? What is the likelihood of it being passed to us?

I have a sulcata and a RES. I'm not worried about it because we wash up after we play/handle/feed/clean up after them. I want to pass info on to a family member who is TERRIFIED & PETRIFIED that their son will get it because he pet my sully's shell. I tried explaining that it won't happen, but they don't believe me.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[dmmj]

RES are notorious for carrying it. Anyone who comes to my house and wants to handle my RES's I always instruct them to wash their hands. I can not say for sure if Sulc's carry it but it is always good hygeine to wash your hands after handling turtles and tortoises. I do not think any amount of reassurance will be abe to assure someone like that about salmonella.

 

[Tom]

Salmonella is everywhere. Its in the environment.

RES used to be raised in retired human septic tanks, so they carried large amounts of some pretty virulent stuff. Little kids would put them in their mouths or touch them and then put their hands in their mouths and then get sick. There were very few cases of this documented in the 60's and this is what led to the 4" carapace law.

Nobody keeps them in such unsanitary conditions any more. The likelihood of actually getting sick from touching an animal is almost nil. My wife has a masters in microbiology and we've talked about this at length due to my job, my hobbies (roaches and reptiles), and our little girl (the human one).

You will never talk someone out of irrational germophobia and ignorance of that nature. Let me rephrase, I have tried and failed many times. Maybe you will be better at it than I am.

 

[Yvonne G]

One of the worst offenders is raw chicken.

 

[moswen]

I was about to say what yvonne said... Sorry I have no documentation to back this up, but I've only heard torts CAN carry it but not all do, and you only get it from handling their poop. My daughter was born with my greek tort tula having a set up under our pool table and with full and complete unrestricted access to our whole house. That's not to say we were unsafe and let her play with tula poop, but she was exposed to a floor where a tort had been, and my daughter has never once been to the doctor for illness reasons (lucky I know!). I'm literally more worried about kaylynn contracting salmonella from a counter top in my kitchen than from tula. Chickens are worse than torts!

 

[terryo]

Many years ago, when I did some rescue, I had about 7 RES and a load of Eastern Painted's. My nephew was in body building competitions and was eating chicken every night for protein. My Mom was cooking it for him and probably didn't cook it very well, so he got Salmonella. My point is that I had about three ponds with water turtles and some hatchlings in the house, and he got it from the chicken. The Dr. was adamant about it coming from the chicken, since my nephew was eating it every night for months....so.....who knows!

 

[DAC8671]

Thank you all! I don't think I will ever have any luck changing their minds. This is the type of person that heard it ONCE a while ago so "that's how it is". I really thought she was going to have a stroke today when her son pet Ralph. I will pass the info, though, onto her about the chicken. But she also is the type of person who won't let her son play in a sandbox, either. Too dirty. (rolling my eyes and sighing here)

Like I said, I don't worry about my family. We just use common sense and wash up afterwards. It's more Ralph that we have contact with. The RES stays in the water. We don't really touch her or the water unless we are cleaning out the tank.